The development of the “telislife” questionnaire for the evaluation of telephone use in cochlear implant users

Purpose: For cochlear implant users, the ability to use the telephone is often seen as an important landmark during rehabilitation and an indicator of cochlear implant benefit. The goal of this study was to develop a short questionnaire exploring the ability to use the telephone in cochlear implant users, named Telislife, and test it in a group of experienced users. Method: This prospective multicenter study was based on the completion of self-administrated questionnaires. The Telislife includes 20 items using a 5-point Likert scale for answers. Speech recognition scores were obtained with monosyllabic word lists at 70 dB HL. Quality of life was evaluated with the Nijmegen Cochlear Implant Questionnaire. This study included 55 adult patients wearing a cochlear implant for over 1 year. Results: The Telislife questionnaire showed excellent reliability (Cronbach’s α =.91). A significant correlation was found between Telislife scores and Nijmegen Cochlear Implant Questionnaire scores (r =.69, p <.001) and speech recognition scores (r =.35, p =.007). Conclusion: Given significant correlations between Telislife scores and both speech recognition and quality of life and given its short form, the Telislife questionnaire appears to be a reliable tool to evaluate cochlear implant outcomes in clinical practice.